The Lenny Lego Show
The Lenny Leggo Show (known as The Lenny Lego Show during the first ten seasons) is a Youtube sitcom series created by Youtube user Cosbythecaterpillar. Since the show's debut, it has been given it's own dedicated Youtube channel titled "Thelennyleggoshow". On November 13th 2015, it was announced that the show would be renamed "The Lenny Leggo Show", with "Lego" being changed to "Leggo" to sever any possible confusion with the LEGO company, of which the show has no connection to nor does is sponsor. This change officially took place on December 24th 2015, during the airing of the Season 10 finale Buzz Tarco's Christmas Carol. History The Lenny Leggo Show was created by Youtube user, by the name of Aaron Cosby, owner of the Youtube channel "Cosbythecaterpillar", and was inspired by the discontinued Youtube series, "Desktop Tales", which ran until winter of 2010 and it's four episodes have since been wiped (this series, however, has confirmed to return). Though it was born in June, The Lenny Lego Show was not officially announced until October 31st 2010, when the first ever Lenny Lego related video, a teaser trailer for the show, was ever put on the Youtube. The show first debuted on November 23rd 2010, about two months ahead from its original January 2011 planned release. On December 3rd 2011, the show was officially rebooted, and this version of the show still runs today. The first season and a half was filmed with a Flip Video Camera. In 2012, starting with the season 2 episode "Tighten your alternator belt Mr. Fireman!". In February 2015, the show's process for audio recording was drastically changed when an external microphone was used on set for recording. Both the Flip and GE cameras have built-in microphones, which were used for the show's audio, including re-dubs. Starting with season 9, the show will feature professionally recorded audio for all episodes. Additionally the up-coming CTC film Mr. Fireman: Crusaders of Fire, will be the first CTC production to also receive this treatment. In March 2015, it was also announced that all future episodes would be taped in the 16:9 HD format. For the prior seven seasons, episodes were taped in 4:3 and were rendered to 16:9. On December 24th 2015, The Lenny Lego Show was renamed "The Lenny Leggo Show" for its eleventh season due to the fact that throughout the entire show's run, the show has been mistaken for a show solely dedicated to Lego property, of which it has never been. It was originally debated if the name should be changed, or if episodes would open with a disclaimer, severing any possible connections between the show and Lego, while leaving the original title the same. On December 10th 2015, it was officially confirmed that the show will indeed be renamed to "The Lenny Leggo Show". All episode thumbnails will be updated with the new title, but the old intros with the original name will be left intact. The season 11 premiere will explain this change, as the character himself will also receive a last name change within the show. However, the show's actual name change took official effect beginning with the season 10 finale Buzz Tarco's Christmas Carol. Format Each episode of The Lenny Leggo Show runs for approximately 10-15 minutes (although some earlier episodes would only run for about 5 minutes). Double length episodes last anywhere from 20-30 minutes and cover two episode slots. Holiday specials, like the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas specials for example, cover two episode slots. Other times, continuing story-lines that are too long for a single episode may run into as many as three episodes, such as The Nature Trilogy, for example. Usually, in these cases, each episode will end with a "to be continued" and the following episode will briefly recap the previous one prior to the show's theme song. In contrast to most Youtube shows, which use animation of some format, Lenny Leggo instead relies on the use of practical figures, which the show still uses even today. It was at one point considered to convert the show into flash animation, however, this never took place, and the show continues to use practical figures even to this day and likely will until the show's conclusion. For prop placements, PNG files are commonly used, such as for Timmy Tinkleman's office desk, Lenny's flat-screen TV, Buzz Tarco's microwave, and Randy's bedroom wall decorations. Earlier unseen versions of the show incorporated the use of a "laugh track". In the current rendition of the show, there is no laugh track, except for the season 7 premiere "Report of no Return", which is, so far, the only episode in the entire series to use a laugh track. After what was perceived as poor sound quality, in comparison to before this episode, the laugh track was sequentially dropped and the show has ever since omitted the laugh track. setting The Lenny Lego Show mainly takes place inside the fictitious town of Semi-City #5555, which is, in reality, a common bedroom. The characters of the show are "Topacamorphins", which means they are toys, but are known by this more specific term due to the fact that they are alive while other toys are not. Even today, there is no official explanations to how these toys came to be. Many other houses also share the name "Semi-City", the #5555 code number is what identifies the different houses. Despite being set in a bedroom, humans are never portrayed at any point in the show. Earlier drafts of the show's concept did portray the bedroom owner as "Jimmy" who was always oblivious to the fact that his toys are alive. In the current version of the show, this character is completely absent and is believed to not even exist in the universe of the current rendition of the show. As with shows like "The Simpsons" and "Arthur", the characters of The Lenny Leggo Show do not age as the show progresses, so the characters do not make any major changes to themselves as the show progresses. The show does, however, seem to update itself to technology and popular culture as the show progresses, even though the characters themselves do not. Additionally the show does also contain flashbacks of certain characters when they were younger ages and also make references to events much earlier in their lives. Characters main article: List of Lenny Leggo characters At the time of the show's creation, Lenny and Mr. Fireman were the only two characters that existed. A short time later other characters that showed up included Chicken and Mammoth and later Bull. Mr. Ambulance was added sometime later after it was decided that Mr. Fireman should have a cousin and roommate. A few months later, after the show changed sets for the rebooted series, the show was introduced to Randy, and then his mom, the first unseen character, shortly after that. The two newest characters added to the show are best friends Cody and Pig, a zebra and a pig, respectively. Outside of the show's characters, there are also film exclusive characters, including Wonka the Fireman, Petey and John, and Clonebot, the main antagonist of the film series. Title change Despite the show's name when known as "The Lenny Lego Show", it beared no connection to the LEGO company (despite the fact that Lenny's character is built out of Lego). On November 12th 2015, it was announced that The Lenny Lego Show would officially be renamed "The Lenny Leggo Show". by slightly altering Lenny's last name, to sever any possible connections with LEGO as well as to prevention the Youtube channel from comparison of other channels that are solely dedicated to LEGO videos. Sometime later, it was confirmed that Season 11 will continue with the original name and that the show would not be renamed after all. Nevertheless, the show was indeed renamed The Lenny Leggo Show starting with the season 10 finale "Buzz Tarco's Christmas Carol". Episodes main article: List of Lenny Leggo episodes Lenny Leggo currently has a total run of ten seasons. There are currently 101 episodes of The Lenny Leggo Show. During the show's first season run, it included the prototype version of the intro, which was rather short lived, lasting only about half of the first season. The second half of the season consisted of an entirely new theme song, which is still used in present day, though with a different recording. This theme song was used for the second half of season 1 and all through season 2. The same song was used in seasons 3-5 but beginning with season 3 consisted of different accompanied video. In seasons 1-2, the intro showed Mr. Fireman and Mammoth playing "Lenny Ball" with Lenny's body parts. After constantly missing the ball, which is actually Lenny's, Mr. Fireman finally hits it (using his arm as a bat) and sends it flying down the staircase of the town. Lenny's head is zoomed in as he shouts "HELP!" upon the conclusion of the theme song. In Seasons 3-5, the video was changed to title cards of Lenny and his friends as well as their respective names appearing with each one. Near the end of the song, Lenny becomes hit by a box. When the box was taken off by an unknown human, Lenny's head somehow manages to stay inside the box as it is put away in a bin. Lenny's head is then shown yelling the same "HELP!" as he did before. Beginning with season 7 the theme song was re-recorded and showed different title cards. Near the end, as a substitute for the "help" line, Lenny sees Mr. Fireman working on an unnamed invention and asks him if it will work. Mr. Fireman states it will, but the machine instantly explodes as Mr. Fireman turns it on, sending Lenny flying away as the film pauses on a still frame of Lenny flying through the air as the logo of the show appears. Season 9 features a new intro which is similar to that of the intro used for seasons 7 and 8. The intro shot and video featured during the theme song was re-shot, but the recording for the theme song remained the same. This is actually due to the fact that the theme song was previously re-recorded, but it was scrapped due to poor quality and since the first episode of the show was rushed to air the day after being taped, there was no time to re-record the theme song. The theme song was extended longer than it was previously used during the past seasons because there was an extended amount of footage that was shown, so the song was able to be played during the entire showing of the footage. Also, the scene near the end of the song was changed to Lenny being the test subject of a time machine that Mr. Fireman built. Similar to the scene in the last version of the song, Lenny asks Mr. Fireman if it will work, which he says it will. Upon being turned on, the machine appears to work at first, but seconds later explodes with Lenny in it. Seasons 7 and 8 of "The Lenny Leggo Show are known as "The Midquel Era". Most of season 7 of The Lenny Leggo Show, starting with "Community Service" takes place during the events of The Lenny Lego Movie 3. All episodes between "Community Service" and the season finale are all unofficial midquels to the film. Season 8 continues the Midquel Era that began in season 7, in-which every episode of the series directly affects the next (the one exception is "Superbowl Sunday", which acts as more of a special rather than a saga part). Despite being part of the "Midquel Era", Season 8 takes place after the events of The Lenny Lego Movie, whereas most of Season 7, including the finale, takes place during Lenny Lego 3. Season 8, however, continues the main events that began during Season 7 Beginning with Season 9, the timeline saga will end and the episodes will act as independent stories once again, but still nonetheless will take place chronologically. Season 9 begins a new story era after ending the two season "Midquel Era" lasting through Seasons 7 and 8. Additionally, Season 9 of The Lenny Leggo Show featured new professional audio recording and was the first to be taped in the 16:9 aspect ratio, whereas the last eight seasons were taped in 4:3 and converted to 16:9 in post production. In addition, it was the first season to have its episodes scripted (the season premiere, Lenny's Easter, was not scripted however, as the episode was decided to be produced at the last minute, being almost entirely shot on the Saturday before Easter and rushed to air the next day). Tapings The show is shot and produced over the course of about three to five days and usually about 3 to 10 days in advance before airing. During earlier seasons, when episodes didn't take nearly as much time to produce, some episodes were shot and aired in the same day. This was the case with Season 3 Episode 5 "Bed and Breakfast". Two season five episodes, "Lenny's Dog" parts 1 and 2, were also both shot and released the same day (although both episodes were pulled from circulation because they contained mistakes and re-aired the next day with them fixed). In the later seasons, the practice of featuring double length episodes, primarily for holiday specials, was put into play. The season finales for seasons 6, 7,9, and 10 are double length episodes as is the season 8 premiere. The season 8 premiere's rough cut was about 40 minutes in length, and was cut to 27 minutes for general release. This episode also features a director's cut, which features about 3 minutes of additional footage, making it the first Lenny Leggo episode to feature an extended version. Seasons 1-8, with the exception of part of the season 8 finale, were shot entirely in the 4:3 aspect ratio and converted to 16:9 in post-production. This was done because the camera's memory card could hold more memory when footage was shot in 4:3 than 16:9. However, this produced a sort of "stretched" picture as a result. Since the Season 9 premiere, all episodes have been taped in 16:9 HD. Additionally, the show's ninth season was also the introduction of a new frame rate standard. Prior, all episodes, as well as the films, were featured in 25 frames per second, but this frame rate has long been abandoned. Today, the standard for all episodes is 30 frames per second, while the films are featured in 24 frames per second. Film Series main article The Lenny Lego Movie franchise The series has also spawned a film series, which consists of a trilogy as well as two spin-off films. The first film, The Lenny Lego Movie, was released on November 14th 2012. The film's success lead to a sequel, respectively titled The Lenny Lego Movie 2. It was released on May 9th 2013, also a success, though not as successful as it's predecessor. On November 19th 2014, The Lenny Lego Movie 3, the third film of the series, was released. The series also features two spin-off films. The first was Mr. Fireman, in 2014, and was followed by a sequel, Mr. Fireman: Crusaders of Fire, in 2015. Reception The first four seasons of the show have been met with mixed reviews. These seasons, while receiving praise for the episode plot-lines and characters, were criticized for amateurish production qualities, such as shaky camera movements and poor sound sound quality. Out of all of the seasons of the show, Season 1 has been met with the most criticism for these reasons. Season 5 and subsequent seasons have received more positive reception, with improved production quality, stronger dialogue, and better episode titles. Season 9, however, was considered relatively weak by some viewers, but still significantly better than the show's first four seasons. Aaron Cosby himself has confessed to some of the show's older episodes, primarily the from first season, to coming out as terrible, and significantly worse than what he had originally envisioned. Spin-offs The upcoming Youtube series Desktop Tales is considered to be a spin-off of The Lenny Lego Show, as it will be set in the same fictionalized universe. The show will star Cody and Pig as recurring characters. re-dubbing On December 3rd 2014, CTC announced that all ten episodes of Season 1, some episodes of Season 2, and The Lenny Lego Movie would be re-dubbed with new audio. These episodes and film are among the older productions and contain audio which is significantly less in quality compared to the newer episodes. Each listed episode will be re-released with new audio and SFX dubbed to it's original video. The original versions of each episode and film will remain available while the re-dubbed versions will be accessible via annotations through the original versions. Mobile users can access the re-dubbed versions of the episodes through a link in the description of the videos, since annotations do not appear on mobile devices. Possible future changes The original creator of The Lenny Lego Show has expressed interest in making the show a reality. If it were to become a real TV show, the following changes would be made. * The characters of the show will not be toys and would take place in fictionalized version of the universe that includes human and anthropomorphic animal characters. This would be the largest change made between the YouTube series and the actual series. * The series would most likely be animated, rather than rely on practical figures. * Anthropomorphic animal characters, like Mammoth and Randy, for example, would walk on their hind legs. In the YouTube series, they walk on all fours. * Characters would break the fourth wall somewhat more frequently. * Mr. Fireman and Mr. Ambulance's legal names in the series are Billy Blazes and Matt Medic respectively. In the TV series, these names will be changed, mainly for copyright reasons, but it is not yet confirmed what they will be changed to. This is one of the few elements of the Youtube series that involves copyrighted material. * Buzz Tarco, Mr. Fireman's boss, will be a standard human character. In the Youtube series, he was actually a Buzz Lightyear figure (his last name, Tarco, was later added in a move to sever the show from as many copyrighted relations to other property as possible). * The TV series will feature both anthropomorphic, and non-anthropomorphic animals. This idea would, in a sense, parody television shows that lack consistency between anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic animals. Likely, there will not be any official explanation for such inconsistency in the series. * Mammoth, Bull, Mr. Elephant, and Chicken will be the only characters to have their first names based off of their actual character. This idea would be, in a sense, a parody of TV shows, like the Berenstain Bears, where the main characters are given completely generic names while all the others are given much more specific, standardized names. * Clonebot, the main antagonist of the film series, will have a different name, but it is unknown what his new name will become. external links http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLennyLegoShow Category:Characters,